Zach Petschek Photography Blog

The year of the rat is over and it went out with a bang. The day started on a foggy morning. I was driving down Jimmy Durante in Del Mar and found this site. I had to stop and take some shots. I love when an image comes right of the camera without needing any photoshop whatsoever. I began the day with a few shots of whiskey and a little editing. New Years Eve is a special day and so it deserves a special beginning. I didn’t get much work done but I was having a lot of fun. After a couple hours I left to head down south. I met up with Bryan Reilly to skate Dallas park in La Mesa. I got the insider tip that there was going to be an imitation hesh sesh so I was obliged to attend. Jesse from the Dallas skate crew brought a few rails to the skatepark and it was on.

I have never seen so many people there in my life. It was almost too many people. I met up with Jomar and Lawrence there and eventually it was too much. Looking for something a little more subtle we went to La Mesa Middle School. Boy does that bring back memories. It was much more peaceful. Jomar claimed an ollie across the sidewalk. This is fucking huge. Off the 3 stair across the sidewalk is a good 8 feet. The 3 stair is small too. It’s more like a 2 so you don’t have much air time. Jomar barely made it. His tail scraped the curb. We skated the bike rails for a bit before it was time to begin the nighttime festivities. We cruised to Bryan’s house in El Cajon as a quick stop before heading out. Nothing special happened from there. At Christian’s house we began drinking and planning the evening. I couldn’t have too much to drink because I was driving so I was a bit anxious to get to wherever we were going. A few people met up with us and we were off. Now this is the raddest party I have been to in a long time. It was a residential street somewhere in El Cajon. 2 houses on each side of the street were raging. The first thing that caught my eye was the buffet just chillin. Chicken, beef, salads, and other things that I cannot remember anymore. There is no line, no payment area or guard, it was just up for the taking. A 60″ tv on the driveway with guitar hero hooked up, beer pong in the street and a good 70+ people. We were escorted into the house of the person we knew. I think they robbed a convenience store because this was too much alcohol. Or maybe they just know how to party. So many people puked, so many awkward scenarios, so many good times. The cops came to break it up and 45 minutes later they were filling a plate at the buffet table with. I think one of them even had a beer. At 3 it was time to go. We went to Carrie’s house out in Santee to chill. I setup the camera and snapped a few drunken late night pics. I just setup my flash to bounce off the furthest wall and set it on a remote trigger.

That way I didn’t have to think about lighting angles and such. It lit up almost the entire room evenly. I was stoked. As it turns out no one else even realized I had setup a light. They just thought all the light was coming from the remote on top of my camera. Good times.

It was getting late and time for food. It’s amazing that Denny’s can have that many people at 430 in the morning. One guy was lying on the waiting bench. He greeted us in his own language of slurs, cheers and drunken jibberish. He was stoked. It’s amazing how most of my Denny’s memories are at 4 am with a few drinks in me. I guess that’s livin. Denny’s never fails me. . The night was almost over and we dosed off back at Carrie’s. I know the liquid bread was wearing off because it suddenly got way cold. Like painfully cold. The girls huddled up in blankets next to the fire. It was cute. At 530 we peaced out only to skate again the next day.

What a day. More photos of new years eve 2008

The Snay family camp trips are always a blast. We have good food and places to hike and they mob 10+ deep. This year was a little more tame but still a blast. KQ Ranch is up the 79 highway in San Diego County. John Snay and I drove up Friday afternoon to meet everyone. It was a cool sunset so we stopped to have a gander.

When we arrived to the campsite everyone else was there; Larry Snay, Marylou Snay, Steven Snay, Korey Penley, and Lawrence. The campsite sat ontop of a hill overlooking a canyon. Apparently they were testing turbines engines for cargo planes at the bottom of the canyon because it was ridiculously windy the whole trip. Our tent was under brutal attack from the wind all night long which made it difficult to fall asleep, but I managed.

The next morning it was time to hike. John, Lawrence and I set out to find a direction to explore in. After spotting a reasonably tall hill we went back to the campsite to gather our stuff and go. We set out for our little venture. If you ever have a chance to explore the area around the KQ Ranch I suggest you do so. The campgrounds are nice but a little more like a country club than a campground. However it is surrounded by a beautiful landscape and a lot of interesting things. The area surrounding the campground was burned by the Witch Fire in San Diego in 2007.

The hike was good and the view at the top was awesome. The top of the summit was even windier than our campsite. We could actually lean into the wind. That provided some good times. After the hike we played a few random games enjoying carne asada and a few well deserved beers. What wasn’t deserved was the sunburn on my forehead that made it swell up. Is that even possible?
The food was good and the outdoors was awesome. A couple pulled in to the campsite next to us that evening and we had a couple drinks with them as well. They were a cool couple Riverside. She was a dealer (not sure if that’s at a casino or car sales) and that’s how she got the tickets.

		The night photography among a bunch of creative skateboarders took up the entire evening until we crashed out. For more photos click here

It comes on May 17th.

La Mesita Park in La Mesa. 10am-5pm skateboarding, barbcue, beer, friends, water balloons?

The first year has passed. Many great events behind us and many more ahead of us. Skateboarding. This HesH SesH marks the beginning of the next year. John Snay and Zach Petschek have been putting this together every other month since the first one on March 31st, 2007. At the last one we had an astro jump that was a hit. We decided to top ourselves this time with something better. We reserved a joisting arena instead. You’ll have to see the images to understand. I knew someone would get hurt at some point. This thing was too much fun for someone not to walk away with a limp, or gash. Craig Price too the prize on that one. Apparently Daryl Schiflett was a soldier in a past life. Daryl hit Craig so hard in the head that he gushed blood all over the mat from large hole in the middle of his head. Needless to say no one would fight Daryl after that.

Thanks to some contributions from Black Wax we held a second best trick contest. This one was a hard one to judge. Everyone was given 15 minutes to throw down their best shit. Back noseblunt, bigspin front B 270 out, hard flip back 50, kickflip front Board 270 out, kickflip back smith, switch lip. It was hard to judge. Finally we had a tie with big spin front board 270 and hard flip back 50. Thank you Black wax for your donations.

Enough with the words, here’s some god damn photos.

Also check out All of the HesH SesH 7 Photos

The biggest session to date. Also the most eventful session so far. The morning started with picking up the boxes and quarterpipe. That was a hell of an ordeal. Crystal Soucie drove 3 boxes and a rail to the park while Sam Carey and I drove the quarterpipe back. This is a solid ramp made of the most dense 2×6’s I have ever encountered. It took 4 of us to walk it into his truck. In the process we bent the tailgate from the weight. Afterwards it came straight up almost 9 feet out of the truck bed. When we got there some souls had already began to collect and assemble. Sam Carey drove his truck down to the spot so we could unload it. With the help of a few kids we managed to wiggle the quarterpipe out of the truck and into place without anyone getting hurt. At that point the guy delivering the astro jump showed up so I talked to him and got him started. As I returned there was a man in blue talking to Sam next to his truck that was still parked on the sidewalk in the park. Not good.

I walked back over and asked what the problem was. The officer explained that no vehicles are aloud within the park and this event required a permit from the city. This was appalling since I had spoken to the La Mesa Parks and Recreation department about this shindig. In fact this was the 3 time I had checked in about having one of these events. An event we have had every other month for a year. Politely, but aggressively, I preached my case and spelled out everything that I had done. He budged but not far enough out of my way. I then pointed out the permit that I had for the astro jump already. Still nothing. Finally I gave notice to the band of ancient warriors swinging sticks and thrusting swords at each other only a hundred yards away. “They are joisting eachother right over there. Do they need a permit too? They are actually trying to hurt each other. Where do you draw the line?” With nothing to say he took Sam up to his car and we all waited in suspense. Waiting for the final result. Was today in vane? Do we have to tell 20 kids and growing that they must all go home now? That would be devastating considering all the planning and money already spent. All the money coming out of our pockets.

Sam returned slowly without the cop. He then explained to us that the officer looked through 3 different law books trying to find the exact code that says we cannot be here. He didn’t find anything. Not even one about Sam driving in the park. We won! Joyous days!

This was the biggest turnout to record. At one point we had 45 people. The astro jump was a hit as it will be next time. In the spirit of our joisting friends we might have a battle theme this time.

Thanks to John Snay, Crystal Soucie and Black Wax, Mellissa Leyendecker and Theresa Leyendecker (implied thanks to Steve Leyendecker), Lori Swain and everyone else that contributed.

Thank you everyone.
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Mellissa’s Pics

Thank you to everyone that contributed. John Snay, Courtney Pierce, Crystal Soucie, and Sam Carey. We had more rails than boxes at this event. That is what made the session this time. The element slant rail was beautiful. We set up one rail across the gap and had a regular one before it in a line. The best part was Sam’s tall rail. This rail was waist high and heavily sessioned. John Snay back lipped, front board, smith, and lip slid it. Pablo Favela feebled and nollie back lipped it. Rich 50-50 and front B like it was nothing. I had to use a kicker ramp to get up to it but these guys hit it flat fucking ground!

We had plenty of food and the liquids were just sufficient. There was a scare for a few minutes when local authorities started marching across the park towards our setup. In the end they only asked what was happening. Chris Gonzales told them that we were just hanging out and skating because the skate park was closed. Good call. Another success. Next time we have plans for going old school. There are rumors of a youthful activity that is sure to bring hype. I just hope we can get everyone out of it when it’s time to go. zachpetschek.com/hesh-sesh5

HesH SesH 6: January 19th (third Saturday every other month)

It was so fucking hot that day. That is the first thing anyone says when they refer to the 4th HesH SesH. No one would skate more than 15 minutes at a time. John Snay and Michelle Oleary were dripping sweat at 8 in the morning before anyone even got there. That aside, it was fun. Tommy Sandoval came out for a bit and like usual Cory invited some people that didn’t mingle well with others. They just sat in the corner by themselves like a high school clique. Cory, when the fuck will you learn. Thank you to everyone that came out, even if for a short time. Sara brought a stick board in the morning and that was a blast. She brought it later to the after party. People played with that thing for hours! Anyways here are some pics

For more of HesH SesH 4 check out this page.

What a frickin day. We loaded the quarter pipe in the back of my truck the night before. The next morning when I got on the freeway it worked as an excellent sail. There were only a couple of us there until about 11, so 5 of us were skating. I got broke off 3 times in less than an hour. One of which I thought I was done for the day. It’s not often that the sole of my shoe looks up to the sky at the mercy of my ankle and this was just such an occasion.

The Broke crew showed up and ripped. Marcelle Johnson put the hammers down on the quarter pipe. James Washington popped switch heels over a trash can like he was ollieing off a curb. Cory had his glory too with a massive air over the quarter pipe. I’d say it was a success once again. Somehow we plowed through over 150 beers before it was over.

Thanks again and keep checking back for the next session.
More photos of HesH Sesh 3

John Hunt	James Washington: Switch Heelflip	James Washington: Switch Heelflip
Ratty: Backside Flip	Derek Hooker: Heelflip rock fakie	John Snay: Backside Flip
Kory	James Washington: Hard Flip	James Washington: Hard Flip James Washington: Hard Flip" />

I have more images from Saturday May Nineteenth, Two Thousand Seven. This is the rest of the images from that day. Thank you John Snay and Jojo Seaman for helping pioneer this event. Mike and Sabrina Thompson, Craig Price, Jomar Cabintoy, Daryl Schifflet, Justin Bernie, Erik Browarny, Derek Hooker, Paul Snay, Michelle, Felix (help me out with your last name), and everyone else, thank you for coming. It was a lot of fun. See you all at Dallas park again in July.

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We did it again. We had another hesh sesh at Dallas park this last weekend. If you made it thank you, if you didn’t you missed out. We had twice the people this time and no one felt left out. There was constantly things happening as the day passed. At one point I had a poacher to deal with. There was a random guy walking around the perimeter taking photos of everyone skating. I still don’t know who this guy was. But I know i got some of the best photos I have ever gotten on that day. To everyone thank you. It was fun. In two months you can expect to see us again.

You can also see the rest of the images at http://zachpetschek.com/hesh-sesh